Graham Requests Senate Hearing On Transfer Of ‘Taliban Dream Team’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Monday requested that the Senate Armed Services Committee hold a hearing on a deal the Obama administration brokered to bring an American soldier detained in Afghanistan home in exchange for five Afghan detainees.

In the letter to committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and ranking member Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Graham wrote that he feared the terms of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s transfer could harm national security.

“The five terrorists released were the hardest of the hard-core. They held positions of great importance within the hard-core anti-American Taliban, including the Chief of Staff of the Taliban Army and the Taliban Deputy Minister of Intelligence,” he wrote. “They have American blood on their hands and surely as night follows day they will return to the fight. In effect, we released the ‘Taliban Dream Team.’ “

“With President Obama’s announcement of a total withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2016 — basically canceling an insurance policy to protect our homeland — and now releasing five Taliban leaders, it’s safe to say last week was a great week for the Taliban,” he added.